I’m excited because BBQ season is almost here. I live in the East and we’ve finally been receiving warm weather. Barbequing is on my mind. I’m dreaming about it. But I don’t want to give you another article about putting hot dogs or burger patties on the grill. Nope. Those can be store bought. These recipes will turn you into an epic BBQ chef.
Becoming an epic chef requires being fearless and open to crafting food in an unconventional way. Are you ready?
Grilled Stuffed Flank Steak Pinwheels
Flank steak is meant to be on a BBQ. As fearless chefs, let’s take it an extra mile by adding more toppings like cheese and salami. Steak can never get enough seasoning, right? That’s why I’m bringing to you a spectacular recipe from Serious Eats – Grilled Stuffed Flank Pinwheels. The thought of taking a bite of this makes me excited for BBQ season.
The good news is that grilling flank steak isn’t difficult. But you must know how to ‘butterfly’ a flank cleanly and in the right direction. Let me be honest with you, I had to Google what it means to ‘butterfly’ your meat. If you also don’t know, watch this tutorial on how to do it. Serious Eats also has great information on how to grill flank properly. According to SE, butterfying the flank steak let’s you to stuff additional ingredients more easily. Butterflying with the grain ensures that the steak will be sliced against the grain into serving portions.
For this recipe, they created the pinwheel in a muffuletta-style with Italian cold cuts, provolone cheese, and olive salad.
To make sure the flank steak is beyond perfect, consider getting a digital meat thermometer. You don’t want to over cook the meaty pinwheel? Check out this one from CND.
Ingredients:
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Directions
Lay steak on a cutting board with grain running parallel to the edge of the counter. Trim left and right edges to form a clean rectangle and reserve scraps for another use. Hold steak flat with your non-knife hand and, with a sharp boning knife, carefully butterfly the steak, leaving the back edge attached by 1/2- to 1/4-inch of meat. Open up steak and flatten the seam gently with your hand to form a large perfect rectangle.
Season steak on exposed side with salt and pepper. Spread olive salad evenly over steak, leaving a 1-inch border at the top and the bottom. Layer prosciutto, capicola, mortadella, and Provolone over steak, leaving the border at the top and bottom.
Carefully roll the steak away from you (the grain should run width-wise), tightening as you go until it is rolled into a cylinder. Let it rest with its seam-side down.
Tie the beef tightly with twine, spacing the ties evenly every 1 1/2 inches. Insert a skewer through each piece of twine. Using a sharp knife, carefully cut between the ties to make the pinwheels. Season with salt and pepper.
Stuffed Burger Patty
I love lots of toppings on my burger and lots of it. Not the basic ingredients like lettuce, tomatoes and pickles. I’m more into the specialty toppings such as goat cheese, avocado, bacon, sundried tomatoes, arugula and sautéed mushrooms, etc. My mouth drooled at the thought of stuffing your favorite toppings into a burger patty. Say what? Spend with Pennies created mouth watery recipe, Jalapeno Cheddar Turkey Burgers. Yes, I did say turkey but don’t worry you can also use beef too.
To stuff burger patty may seem messy, but thankfully we have kitchen gadgets that can help you cheat but make you look like a star chef. Check out this As Seen On TV Stufz Stuffed Burger Maker. I’m sure you can use your hands to stuff the burger patties but why bother when this gadget can make them look perfect. And will only take a few seconds to prepare.
Ingredients:
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Directions
Preheat grill to medium or oven to broil on high.
In a small bowl combine cream cheese, cheddar cheese, garlic powder and diced jalapeno.
Combine meat, salt & pepper and minced onion. Divide meat into 4 even pieces (7oz each). Take ¼ of the cream cheese mixture and flatten it into a pancake shape. Wrap beef or turkey around the cheese ensuring the cheese mixture is completely covered. Brush each burger with a little bit of olive oil.
Grilling Corn
It may seem that throwing corn isn’t original. But when it comes to corn on the cob, it’s all about how it’s grilled and the toppings. Ordering corn at a hipster Mexican restaurant is my favorite. It’s so good that if any of the toppings seep over on the plate, I’d want to lick it off clean – it’s so damn delicious. Note: I don’t do it only to be classy in public but if no one were looking, I’d consider it. If there were a Mexican food truck that served corn, I would be a repeat customer. Matter of fact, why isn’t there one in this city. I think it would be extremely profitable, non?
This recipe is pretty simple but if you can find Mexican crema, then you’ve hit the corn jackpot. That being said, mayonnaise also works as a good alternative. If you don’t want to use mayonnaise, butter works perfectly. And instead of using feta cheese, you can crumble cotija, which is a favorite in Mexico.
Looking for a more unhealthy and gluttonous way to prepare corn? Wrap the corn with bacon. Say what? This recipe includes fresh basil, now you know why I picked it. I’m a huge basil fan, that I found a kitchen gadget that can help preserve the herbs longer than a few days. Check out my review of the herb savor (ahh, yes, that was a plug). If you like a little extra kick to the flavor, add thin slices of jalapeno, only if your palate can handle it.
Ingredients:
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Directions
Spread grilled corn with a thin layer of crema, then roll in cheese to coat. Sprinkle with cayenne. Squeeze lime juice from wedges to taste.
BBQ Dessert
Have you heard of barbecuing a dessert dish? I’m not referring too grilled pineapple, bananas or s’mores. Even though, I recently learned that grilling fruit is a trend. I’m talking about something that usually baked in the oven. When I heard about the Smoke Apple Bourbon Crisp my eyes open wider in amazement. Personally, I don’t drink bourbon but I do like the flavoring in food, especially dessert.
This barbecue baked dessert blows any apple crisps recipe out of the water. You’ll need to place all the ingredients in a cast iron pan and then place it onto the BBQ. I’m fascinated by this concept and excited to try. Have you ever barbecued a dessert dish? If so, let me know what it was in the comments below. Did you find it easy to set up? As well, how was the end result? Was it delicious? I’m dying to know.
Regardless, this recipe sounds flavorful, beautiful, with a touch of boozy (ahem, bourbon). Drizzle some caramel and ice cream. DAMN. That’s a great way to end an epic BBQ meal.
Wishing you an epic summer filled with epic meals, and if you need to make a few additions to your BBQ arsenal, take a look at everything on Best Buy.
 Cast Iron Frying Pan |
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